Clint, Natasha, and That Damn Necklace
by TlMELOCKED
Summary: While on an undercover mission (at a jewelry store, much to Clint's dismay), Natasha stumbles upon something she thinks she might like for herself.


"Hey, Clint. Come look at this."

Clint glanced at Natasha, who stood just a few feet away from him gazing at something in the display case. "Come on," she said when he didn't move after a few seconds. She rolled her eyes as she noticed his pained expression. "You're better at this undercover stuff than you give yourself credit for," she smirked at him as he made his way over to her, hands shoved in pockets and sighing.

"Not hard when I actually don't want to be here," he replied. "Which one am I supposed to be looking at?" _And why does all this jewelry cost so much more than the stuff they sell at regular jewelry stores?_ he refrained from asking as he looked down at all the sparkling silver necklaces in the display case.

"That one," Natasha replied, pointing to the top of the case and smiling a devilish smile. Clint raised an eyebrow at her expression and glanced warily down at the necklace in the display case.

"Really?" he asked when he saw what she'd been looking at: a simple silver chain with an arrow pendant in the middle.

"What?" she asked. "I thought you'd like it. Excuse me, sir?" she called to one of the employees sitting behind the counter a few rows away. "Would it be possible for me to try something on?" she asked in her most sugary-sweet voice, the one Clint only heard on missions.

"Of course, ma'am," the man said, standing (did he actually dust off his suit? Clint couldn't tell) and making his way over to them. He unlocked the display case, gently lifted the arrow chain off of its stand, and handed it to Natasha. Clint couldn't believe how it gleamed in the light - how many jewels could possibly be in something that small?

"Help me put in on," Natasha said, smiling a genuine smile at him.

Clint sighed and took the necklace from her. "Would you stop enjoying this so much?"

"Would you stop acting like this is physically painful?" She turned around and brushed her hair up. Clint unclasped the necklace and placed it around her neck. He fidgeted with the clasp again for a few seconds, his callused fingers struggling to get to the tiny pieces of metal to fit together again. "You can shoot a moving target from 500 yards but you can't clasp a necklace?" He could hear the smirk in her voice.

"Shut up." The pieces of metal slid into each other and he let the necklace go. Natasha turned around, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"So?" she asked, the corners of her mouth turning upward.

He sighed. It looked beautiful on her (anything looked good on Nat, really), but with that smug grin on her face, he'd never admit that. "It looks nice," he said in his best casual tone.

Natasha rolled her eyes and smiled. "I'll take it," she said to the man in the suit, undoing the clasp herself and handing the chain to him. "So, were you able to keep your eye on the target?" she asked in a low tone when the man was out of earshot.

"Walked out about two minutes ago, still waiting for his ride outside. Don't tell me _you_ weren't paying attention?" Clint asked, raising an eyebrow as he walked up to the counter where the employee was ringing up their purchase.

Natasha handed the employee her SHIELD-issued credit card. "Just checking." She grabbed the box that held her new necklace and the credit card. "Thank you," she smiled.

"I can't believe you spent company money on that thing," Clint said, digging around for the car keys as he and Nat exited the store. "Fury'll have a fit when he sees how much that thing cost."

"Oh, please. You know Fury doesn't care what I do as long as I get the job done." Natasha pulled the keys to the SHIELD vehicle out of her own pocket and unlocked the car, climbing in. "Besides, I'm pretty sure our guy recognized us. He got out of there pretty quick when we started talking louder."

"You sure?"

"Well that, and he looked scared out of his wits when we walked past him. I had to try and convince him we weren't there for him."

Clint sighed. He had thought by now he would stop being surprised by how good Nat was, but she kept on doing it. "There's his ride. Let's go." Natasha turned the ignition and began following their target, and by the time their mission was finished, the necklace sitting in the backseat of that car was forgotten entirely.

Until the next day, however, when Nat walked past him in the hallway at SHIELD wearing a sparkling silver necklace. _Way to distract the target, my ass,_ Clint thought, smirking to himself once he'd passed her.

"Wipe that grin off your face, Barton."


End file.
